2021 Ahead: India Inc seeks single income tax structure instead of dual structure

New Delhi, Jan 01: Ahead of the Union Budget 2021, India Inc has sought reintroduction of the single structure of income tax, instead of the dual structure at present that gives two options to taxpayers, leading to higher cost and tax leakages.

According to reports, this was among several recommendations made by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to the finance ministry for the Union Budget 2021.

Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had introduced a new tax regime where individual and Hindu undivided families could pay income tax at lower slab rate from April 1, 2020, provided they didn't take any tax exemptions, or pay at the existing rates after availing of the exemptions.

It is also said that the taxpayers were to choose one of the options at the beginning of the year, but would be able to change it at the time of filing returns, which is expected in July 2021.

Taking into consideration rising food inflation over the last decade, the CII suggested that the current exemption of Rs 50 per meal per employee if the employer is providing food to be increased to Rs 200.